Operating system: We strongly recommend Windows Server 2012 R2 as the operating system on the management server running VMM (in System Center 2012 R2). If you want to use VMM to create clusters running Windows Server 2012 R2, the VMM management server must run Windows Server 2012 R2. This is true for creating either Hyper-V host clusters or Scale-Out File Server clusters.

We especially recommend Windows Server 2012 R2 as the operating system if you want to install a highly-available (clustered) VMM management server, because it is more difficult to upgrade the operating system in that situation.

If you instead choose Windows Server 2012 as the operating system for the VMM management server, you can create clusters running Windows Server 2012 R2 outside of VMM and then add them to VMM. You just can’t create the clusters in VMM.

Windows ADK software: On the VMM management server, Windows ADK for Windows 8.1 must be installed, regardless of the operating system on the VMM server. A link to Windows ADK for Windows 8.1 is available from Setup, or you can download it from the Microsoft Download Center. When you install Windows ADK, select the Deployment Tools and Windows Preinstallation Environment features.

Command Line Utilities for SQL Server: If you plan to deploy VMM services that use SQL Server data-tier applications, install the related command-line utilities on your VMM management server. Install either SQL Server 2008 R2 Command Line Utilities or SQL Server 2012 Command Line Utilities, depending on which version of SQL Server you install. The Command Line Utilities are available in the following feature packs:

Library server disk space: If you use the VMM management server also as a library server, then you must provide additional hard disk space to store objects. The space required varies, based on the number and size of the objects you store.

Avoiding installation on a Hyper-V host: Don’t install the VMM management server, or other System Center components other than agents, on servers running Hyper-V. You can install System Center components in virtual machines.

Installing in a virtual machine: Installing the VMM management server in a virtual machine can help you reduce the number of physical servers that you maintain, and simplify some management tasks. For information about memory and other requirements, see Hardware.

Dynamic Memory (for installation as a virtual machine): If you install the VMM management server on a virtual machine and you use the Dynamic Memory feature of Hyper-V, then you must set the startup RAM for the virtual machine to be at least 2,048 megabytes (MB).

Management of more than 150 hosts: For better performance when you manage more than 150 hosts, we recommend that you use a dedicated computer for the VMM management server and do the following:

Add one or more remote computers as library servers, and do not use the default library share on the VMM management server.

For the VMM database, do not use a SQL Server instance that runs on the same computer on which you install the VMM management server.

You can perform an in-place upgrade to a supported version of SQL Server (without moving the VMM database). Make sure no jobs are running when you perform the upgrade, or jobs may fail and may need to be restarted manually. For procedures, see the SQL Server documentation, for example, Upgrade to SQL Server 2014.

For the VMM database, for better performance, do not store database files on the disk that is used for the operating system. For SQL Server best practices for placement of data and log files, see Place Data and Log Files on Separate Drives.

If you are using Software Defined Networking (SDN) in VMM, then all networking information is stored in the VMM database. Because of this, you might want to consider high availability for the VMM database, using the following guidelines:

With asynchronous-commit mode, the replica of the database can be out of date for a period of time after each commit. This can make it appear as if the database were back in time which might cause loss of customer data, inadvertent disclosure of information, or possibly elevation of privilege. For more information, see Reviewing Availability and Recovery Options for Protecting the VMM Database.

The SQL Server service must use an account that has permission to access Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). For example, you can specify the Local System Account, or a domain user account. Do not specify a local user account.

You do not need to configure collation. During deployment, Setup automatically configures CI collation according to the language of the server operating system.

The library server is where VMM stores items such as virtual machine templates, virtual hard disks, virtual floppy disks, ISO images, scripts, and stored virtual machines. The optimal hardware requirements that are specified for a VMM library server vary, depending on the quantity and size of these files. You will need to check CPU usage, and other system state variables to determine what works best in your environment.

VMM 2012 R2 does not support DFS Namespaces (DFSN), formerly known as Distributed File System (DFS), or DFS Replication (DFSR).

VMM does not provide a method for replicating physical files in the VMM library or a method for transferring metadata for objects that are stored in the VMM database. Instead, if necessary, you need to replicate physical files outside of VMM, and you need to transfer metadata by using scripts or other means.

VMM does not support file servers that are configured with the case-sensitive option for Windows Services for UNIX, because the Network File System (NFS) case control is set to Ignore. For more information about the NFS case control, see Windows Services for UNIX 2.0 NFS Case Control.

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You can use VMM to find physical computers on the network and then automatically install the Windows operating system on these computers and convert them into managed Hyper-V hosts. Such physical computers can be computers on which no operating system is installed, often referred to as “bare-metal" computers. Or these can be computers on which you want to overwrite an existing operating system.

Make sure that you use the latest version of firmware for the baseboard management controller (BMC) model.

PXE Server that is used to initiate the operating system installation on the physical computer.

- A computer that runs Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Windows Deployment Services role installed.- A computer that runs Windows Server 2012 with the Windows Deployment Services role installed.- A computer that runs Windows Server 2012 R2 with the Windows Deployment Services role installed.

The PXE server needs to be in the same subnet as the out-of-band computer.

The operating system image must support the option to boot from virtual hard disk.

You can create the virtual hard disk by running the System Preparation Tool (Sysprep.exe). Use Sysprep.exe with both the /generalize and the /oobe options on a virtual machine that runs the operating system that will be on the image.

- For information about WSUS system requirements and to download WSUS 3.0 SP2, see Windows Server Update Services 3.0 SP2 on the Microsoft Download Center. Important: If you use WSUS 3.0 SP2 to enable updates for Windows Server 2012 hosts, then you must apply KB2734608. Make sure that you carefully read the Known Issues for this update as they apply to VMM.- On Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2, WSUS is an integrated server role.- VMM supports using a WSUS server that is part of a Configuration Manager 2007 R2 or System Center 2012 Configuration Manager environment, but additional configuration steps are required. For more information, see How to Integrate Fabric Updates with Configuration Manager.

VMM can monitor the health and performance of virtual machines and their hosts. To do so, VMM integrates with Operations Manager and enables Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO). VMM also provides the capability to use the reporting functionality of Operations Manager. To use the forecasting reports, SQL Server Analysis Services must be installed on the Operations Manager reporting server.